Better than Pancakes?

The weekend's here and you know what that means! Chef John takes a break, and posts fun, food related stuff he's found on the web. OK, I have to stop typing in the third person. I hope you enjoy this very creative clip I found on Youtube. Man they have cool looking toasters over there. Enjoy!

Mushroom Gravy – Quick, somebody find me a slice of meatloaf!

My mother just reminded me that I promised a mushroom gravy recipe clip when I did the meatloaf demo. So, here you go; better late than never. This mushroom sauce can be done with any type of stock, but I used beef stock here since I’m going to be making some more meatloaf (if you haven’t seen that clip, check it out here).

This is usually a 2 pan recipe; chefs normally brown the mushroom in a large sauté pan and then add them to a sauce pan to finish the sauce, but why wash another pan when you don’t have too? So, I’m showing you my patented single-pan method. It does take longer, but the final results will be the same. Be patient, wait until all the liquid is gone and the mushrooms are browning in the butter before you make the roux. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 pound sliced mushrooms
1 quart beef stock or broth
1/2 stick butter
3 rounded tbl flour
salt and pepper to taste
fresh herb (this is optional, I used Thyme)

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls a la Aunt Angela

I had dinner recently at a new restaurant here in Northern California. The featured entrée was a stuffed cabbage roll, and I was very excited! This is one of my all time favorite braised dishes, and if done properly, there is nothing better. Well, it wasn’t. Unfortunately, it was probably the single worst entrée I’ve ever been served (and that’s saying something, since I estimate I’ve eaten out 6,725 times!). I won’t go into details about that meal (yet), but I will say that one of the small problems was that it came to the table WITH NO CABBAGE! I got a meatball, and it wasn’t even a good meatball. So, to purge myself of that horrible experience, I decided to make stuffed cabbage rolls. And, not just any cabbage rolls, my Aunt Angela’s cabbage rolls.

One of my earliest, and fondest, culinary memories was sitting as a young child at my Aunt’s kitchen table, watching her roll these stuffed cabbage leaves. Along with my Mom, Grandmother and Grandfather, my Aunt Angela and Uncle Bill (who’s been mentioned on the site a few times) were huge influences on my early culinary development. She is probably more famous for her amazing pies, but for me, when I think of her cooking, I think cabbage rolls. The only problem is, no matter how closely I follow the recipe hers still will always taste better. That’s just how home cooking is; the only ingredient you can’t add to a recipe list is that childhood memory.

Make sure you have a large Dutch oven with a tight fitting to make these. They need lots of room to braise. As you’ll see in the clip, I was really pushing it with the size pot I used. Of course you can vary this recipe many ways, by using different types and combinations of ground meats. Her original recipe just used all beef, but I added part veal to mine. Enjoy!

Ingredients: Makes 10 large or 20 small rolls
1 large green cabbage
1 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound ground veal
3/4 cup raw white long grain rice
1 stick butter
1 bunch Italian parsley
1 yellow onion
1 egg
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 quart beef broth (or water)
1 cup water
1 can crushed tomatoes (28oz)
*Should cook for 2 hours at 350 degrees F., but check after an hour and add more water if they seem to dry)

Smoked Salmon “Gravlox” Part 2 – It worked!

Alright, you watched us prep our Smoked Salmon “Gravlox” in Part 1, which was basically a simple salt/sugar curing mixture. We turned it over after 1 day and it stayed in the fridge for a total of 48 hours (that’s 2 days if you’re a contestant on “Are You Smarter than a Fifth-Grader). Also, remember, we added some smoked spice to the salt mixture so the final product would have a slight “smoked salmon” taste.

I really hope you give this a try. It may seem a bit scary curing your own fish, but it's been done for centuries and besides, like I said in Part 1, smoked salmon and Gravlox in the gourmet stores are really expensive. I didn’t give any serving suggestions. Did you need any? However you currently consume your smoked salmon will work for this house-made version. Ladies and Gentlemen, start your bagels. Enjoy!

Safety Note: Since this has been cured with salt, it will keep, tightly wrapped, for several days in the fridge. But, as the old joke goes, if you need to keep it longer than that, then it wasn’t that good. Believe me, this will disappear quickly.